Recently I received the Insta360 Nano S 360-degree camera that is basically the advanced and upgraded version of the Insta360 Nano. And this time I am going to share the detailed review of Insta360 Nano with all readers of Geeky Stuffs.

This review of the Insta360 Nano S is divided in different categories, covering pros and cons of each aspect separately. Hope you will find this review helpful specially if you are planning to buy a 360-degree camera soon.

Retail Box and Unboxing

Insta360 Nano S comes in a beautiful white premium looking retail box. On the retail box, you will find some information regarding the camera inside and its highlighted features, content inside the box, the list of Apple devices compatible with it and also the MFA (Made for Apple) certification logo.

Inside the retail box you will find the Insta360 Nano S camera, user manuals, a pouch for carrying the camera, USB cable to charge the camera, and a smartphone stand. Just like the retail box of Insta360 Nano, it also comes with lenses in-built. So the box can be converted into a virtual reality viewer to watch all the images and videos you have captured on your Insta360 Nano S just by sliding the smartphone in the given slot.

Design

Just like the Insta360 Nano, the Insta360 Nano S is also designed to be connected to an iPhone to convert the phone into a 360-degree camera.

The design of Insta360 Nano S 360-degree camera is nice and it is very identical to the Insta360 Nano. Once connected with an iPhone, it is easy to notice that it is designed in a way to compliment the design and shape of iPhone.

The body is made of Aluminum that makes it lightweight and durable, both. Insta360 Nano is just 21mm thick and weighs only 66 grams. So it is easy to hold in hand and use it for long.

The front of the device is having one of the lens along with the single multi-functional button on which the Insta360 logo is printed and the brand name in the middle. On the back, there is the second lens at the top and the bottom half part is removed to hold the device and to connect the camera with iPhone using the lightning connector provided.

At the bottom of the Insta360 Nano S, there is a microSD card slot that supports up to 128GB of memory card that is also an improvement over the Nano that can support only 64GB of memory card.. There is no internal storage in the camera, so you will have to use a memory card in it if you are using the camera without iPhone.

You will also find at the bottom a USB port to charge the device and for transfer between computer and camera. The battery is built-in and non-removable. There is also a tiny hole provided for resetting the phone if it gets stuck or you face any software issues with it.

One drawback of the design of Insta360 Nano S is that you will have to remove any case you are using on your iPhone to connect it to the Nano properly but this flaw is justified as it provide a perfect fit and firm grip of the camera to the smartphone.

Overall the design of Insta360 Nano S is nice and impressive. It is lightweight, durable, looks beautiful and premium with smooth edges and feels good in hand too while holding it. While using the Nano S without iPhone, it is easy to hold and provide good grip. It fits perfectly on iPhone and matches with the design of iPhone enhancing the beauty of the device.

Camera and Imaging

You can use Insta360 Nano S in two ways – either with the iPhone or as a standalone 360-degree camera using the physical button that can be used to capture images, regular and time lapse videos and even set up the timer.

Insta360 Nano S comes with dual f/2.2 fish eye lens. The output of these two lenses stitch and overlap together to create the 20 MP resolution 360-degree image. Insta360 Nano is capable of recording 3840 x 1920 pixels @30fps videos. So you will get the 360-degree videos in better than 1080p full HD resolution and quality.

The stitching of the images and videos is automatic and instantaneous. So it let user live stream the content without any time delay that usually happens due to processing of the files and this is one of the most highlighted feature of Insta360 Nano S. But the most unique feature of Nano S is the 360-degree video calling that is not available on any 360-degree cameras including the Insta360 models.

The images captured by Insta360 Nano are nice in quality with good amount of details. In daylight and good amount of artificial light indoor, pics come out great with good amount of details. In low-light condition, if the light is very low images come with some noise but with sufficient amount of artificial light, image comes out great. You can have a look on few samples in different lighting conditions below.

The video recording output of Insta360 Nano S is nice in quality and with good amount of details. In both daylight and low-light, the video output is nice. It also comes with the time-lapse mode that can be used with or without the smartphone as well.

One thing you need to know here is that Insta360 Nano S captures the images and videos in its own proprietary format and to share them with other you will have to either use the Insta360 Nano S iPhone app to upload the content on social media or export them to your computer or iPhone using the Insta360 Studio software or Insta360 Nano iPhone S app first. If you just want to watch the images and videos captured then you can use the Insta360 Player app.

But you can also capture images in the RAW format and videos in LOG format to edit them later in the professional level editing softwares.

Smartphone App and Social Features

There is a dedicated iPhone app for Insta360 Nano S and it is one of the most important part of the camera as you need it to use all of the camera features. The app prompts on the screen once you connect the camera to iPhone. Once Insta360 Nano is connected with iPhone, the app will be launched itself in inverted view for better handling of the content and controlling the app on the device.

The app works as live viewfinder for the camera while capturing the image and video. It also let users watch the captured videos and images on the iPhone. But the most important feature of it is to live stream 360-degree videos on social media channels like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube etc. and to make 360-degrees video calls.

The new Multi-View let user add multiple perspective in the live streams and 360-degree video calls. You can select the different angles to show the things around you at the very same time. This is a unique and very productive feature.

The FreeCapture editing option let user convert the 360° videos into regular video ready to share on social media. The SmartTrack feature allows to lock the frame on to the subject and automatically create a video where subject always center-framed. This is a very useful feature for capturing some action. All of these features work perfectly and flawlessly providing a great user experience.

You can start live streaming on social media from the Insta360 Nano S app in seconds. User just need to connect their social media accounts with the app and start live streaming right away. You can even customize the viewer on your Facebook Live like public or just friends, Facebook groups etc.

You can also use the app to apply filter, put stickers, take screenshots, change the camera settings and assign the functions to the physical button on the camera. As mentioned above, the Insta360 Nano S iPhone app is an important thing to enjoy and utilize all the features of this camera.

Viewing and Editing the 360-degree Images and Videos

As mentioned above Insta360 Nano S captures the videos and images in its own format and RAW/LOG format. So to watch the content on your iPhone, you need the iPhone app and on your computer you need the Insta360 Player software. You can also use any pro editing software that supports the RAW and LOG files. You can also watch the content in 360-degree virtual reality using the VR goggles provided in the box as mentioned above.

Insta360 Player let you watch the content on your computer from different angles, capture the screenshot and launch the Insta360 Studio to edit the files.

If you have an Android phone instead an iPhone, you can use the Intsa360 Nano S as standalone camera, export the files to your Android phone and then use the Insta360 Player and Intsa360 Air app to watch and share the content on social media.

Insta360 Studio is a powerful 360-degree video and image editing tool using which user can edit the 360-degree images and videos captured on Insta360 Nano S. You can export the images and videos in suitable format to share on social media, put watermark in images and videos, change the video quality and resolution, create 2D videos from 360-degree videos in different projections and more.

Conclusion

Insta360 Nano S is the best 360-degree camera for iPhone and one of the best 360-degree camera overall currently because of its performance and features. It is the only 360-degree camera currently available with 360-degrees video calling and live streaming feature. It is very beautiful, durable and lightweight. You can connect it to iPhone for instant live viewing of content and record them the way you want in MultiView mode to show exactly what you want. The captured image and video quality is nice too.

If you are looking for a 360-degree camera for your iPhone or just for standalone usage then, Insta360 Nano is one of the best option is for you right now.